A Monster Like Me

February 1, 2019

Gr 4-6-Sophie's got a big secret that she's desperate to keep hidden: she's actually a monster. She knows this because of the blood tumor bulging on her face, and from the Big Book of Monsters that she's carried around since she found it in her kindergarten library. Sophie doesn't expect anything to change after a big move, but her new neighborhood in Portland, OR, offers a new friend named Autumn (who Sophie thinks is a fairy), Autumn's kindly grandmother (definitely a witch), and Kelsi, a mechanic with a scarred face who rescues Sophie and her mom when their car breaks down (almost certainly a shape-shifting demon). In fact, Sophie believes that nearly everyone she meets is some kind of monster or fairy, which raises the stakes of every interaction. Sophie is sure that if she and Autumn can find the right spell in Mrs. Barrett's spell book, she will be able to be a normal human girl-free of any facial disfigurements. Sophie is a compelling if difficult protagonist; she is constantly self-sabotaging, and it is hard not to be frustrated by many of her choices. Chapters are interspersed with pages from Sophie's favorite book describing different monsters; while this device is sure to appeal to avid creature enthusiasts, the monsters described do not always relate to the story. Swore makes the questionable choice to bring in a Native character for the express purpose of briefly explaining the behavior of a crow, which is an unfortunate and unnecessarily tokenizing choice. Notably, no other characters' origins are designated as non-white. Overall, the story is engaging and likely to appeal to middle grade readers. VERDICT Give to readers who enjoy books like R.J. Palacio's Wonder, Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind, and Raina Telgemeier's Ghosts.-Kelsey Socha, Ventress Memorial Library, Marshfield, MA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
Sophie, a 10-year-old with a facial birthmark, sees monsters everywhere she looks--including in the mirror.Sophie has a hemangioma, a textured birthmark across her face. A frequent victim of bullying, Sophie hides from the world behind sunglasses or her hair. Her mother moves them both from the Portland, Oregon, suburbs to the city, where she hopes specialists will be able to surgically remove Sophie's birthmark and Sophie can get a fresh start at a new school. The fresh start works, a little. Sophie makes her first friend, a bubbly girl named Autumn. But Sophie's demons are all too real. Constantly reading her Big Book of Monsters (which mixes monsters and figures from various world cosmologies), Sophie sees creatures everywhere. Most are dangerous but not all: Autumn is obviously a fairy, while Autumn's Irish herbalist grandmother is a kindly witch. Sophie decides to remove the curse she's sure has afflicted her, finding ingredients for a magical cure all over Portland while identifying "the ghost of a Native American princess" and "an old Native American man" in passers-by and deciding they're her magical helpers. The message--that true beauty comes from the inside--is worthy but unremarkable and is ultimately undermined by tired disability tropes. The mishmash of monstrosity and magic with world religions is as unfortunate as the placement of generic Native characters in the service of this white girl; that she has a Latina doctor would be nice except that the highly atypical spelling of her doctor's surname ("Escabar") will likely throw Latinx readers.Skip. (Fiction. 9-11)

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Starred review from February 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 *Starred Review* For as long as she can remember, Sophie has identified herself as a monster. She either shrouds her face with her long hair or hides behind her Big Book of Monsters to keep others from seeing the hemangioma on her face. She knows that people will think if she's disfigured on the outside, she must be on the inside, too. Now, starting in her new school in Portland, she's speechless when a lively girl in her class (never even looking at her mark) declares they will be best friends. Smart, but self-consciously quiet, Sophie thinks she can identify other people as various types of monsters, witches, or fae folk. Bullies may surround her, but Sophie must confront her own fears. Will she ever allow herself to be just a human girl? Swore integrates The Big Book of Monsters into the fabric of the book by beginning each chapter with the description of a different monster, creating a disruption in the first-person narrative but also adding insight into how Sophie views the world. Swore's character-driven debut, in the vein of R. J. Palacio's Wonder (2012), allows readers to step inside Sophie's thoughts and to understand and empathize with her, leaving them to wonder how they would react if they were Sophie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)